76% Of German Gamers Play On PCs, Only 43% Play On Consoles

With more than a billion gamers gaming hard on PC the world around, some new statistics have emerged giving a bit of insight into who is playing what and how much. Interestingly enough, 76% of German gamers like to game on PC, and despite having consoles, only 43% of those same German gamers (25 million or so in number) like their home consoles.

The stats come courtesy of a report from Bitkom [via 4Players] where the numbers roll out an interesting narrative for the statistics.

Most German gamers (8 out of 10, to be exact) are between 30 and 49 years of age, with a majority being male. According to Dr.Christian P. Illek from the Bitkom Bureau (not to be confused with the Bitcoin Mafia)...

"Games have become final, niche phenomenon used for everyday entertainment medium," "The boom in games for smartphones, tablet computers and social networks as well as innovations such as motion
control, many people away from the traditional target group excited for games."

"2013 is one of the most exciting years for console users: New models are either already published or in the coming months on the German market. Many of the innovations of the new generation of consoles will be on display next week at gamescom in Cologne. "

The data is very fascinating because compared to North American gamers, they spent 68% of their time with home consoles as opposed to favoring their PC by only 63%.

Technically the number disparity between American gamers and German gamers aren't too far off, but a few individuals on Reddit point to online functionality as being the main drawback to consoles, as well as higher prices for console games and the general inconvenience compared to maintaining a PC in today's generation (especially with Steam). Reddit user Pyryara pointed out a major reason why Germans prefer PC over consoles in such a large margin, stating...

“...take the Xbone. Its functions are mostly obsolete for us Germans. There is no Netflix here, and the video streaming services that we have (like Watchever or Lovefilm) are pretty bad in comparison. This was already a problem with the 360, but it's only going to get worse...”

The feeling of “alienation” from the Xbox One's “TV, TV, TV” and “Sports, Sports, Sports” buzzword marketing campaign that Microsoft force-fed down our throats like tentacles in a Japanese film, were not welcomed lightly in any other part of the world that wasn't the upper echelon of America. Then again, rich, wealthy American men prefer the Xbox brand over the competion, so we all kind of know who Microsoft was targeting with the Xbox One's original policies.

Despite prepackaged PC hardware sales being down each quarter of the year, it looks like gamers are still holding steadfast to the PC platform in several key gaming sectors of the world, including China.

I can't wait to see what the year-end sales will look like for digital PC software because it looks like the PC Master Race is bringing back the “dying platform” with a vengeance. Heck, even Microsoft knew who to turn to in order to put on an impressive showing at E3 this year.